Children's toys and candies come in numerous shapes and sizes, and competition among vendors to attract consumers to buy their particular toys and candies is fierce. One technique utilized by candy and toy vendors is to enclose small toys within food or candy packaging. Breakfast cereals and packaged snacks, such as Cracker Jack®, provide well-known and common examples of enclosing small toys within food products.
Other examples enclosing small toys inside hollow containers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,292,840; 4,124,135; 5,728,414; 5,925,391; 6,099,872, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,135, issued to Weber et al., discloses a hollow, plastic hinged Easter egg for containing candy or small toys. U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,414, issued to Terrasi, discloses a food product package having two half shells that fit together to form a hollow egg that encloses a toy in one shell and candy in the other shell. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,925,391 and 6,099,872, issued to Whetstone, disclose a non-edible product shaped like a hollow egg for storing a small toy, the egg covered by an edible coating. These patents further disclose a radially, outwardly extending rib having opposing side edges and an outer edge that encircles the surface of the egg.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the edible portion of confectionery novelty products, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulates the toys contained inside or in proximity to such products. Both the FDA and CPSC have taken a position that if toys and containers containing toys are formed to a confection or encased within a confection, both the toys and any container containing said toys need to be safe for children of all ages. The CPSC rulings require that all non-edible materials in toys must comply with the requirements for small parts (16 C.F.R. Part 1501) and the guidelines for sharp points (16 C.F.R. §1500.48). Furthermore, §402(d)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act requires that toy-containing products must not be embedded in a candy coating:                A food shall be deemed to be adulterated—If it is confectionery, and has partially or completely imbedded therein any nonnutritive object, except that this subparagraph shah not apply in the case of any nonnutritive object if, in the judgment of the Secretary as provided by regulations, such object is of practical functional value to the confectionery product and would not render the product injurious or hazardous to health.        
One method of preventing a toy container from being embedded in the candy is to provide a ridge that encircles the toy container and separates two candy coating areas, wherein the ridge is not covered by the candy coating. Such a ridge, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,391, has right-angle edges which tend to rip foil wrapper covering the candy with typical variations in manufacturing or storage. The sharp cornered ridge may also scratch the skin or eye of a small child when the ridge is exposed from the candy coating.
Accordingly, there is a need for a candy-coated toy container designed so as not to be embedded when coated with candy, and further, provides clear notice to a child that there is non-edible material below the candy coating. Additionally, there is a need to design a candy-coated container providing additional safety features.